Ages in Oblivion Thrown: Book One of the Sleep Trilogy (33 page)

They had their plan pretty
thoroughly choreographed, however.

A landing in a remote area of what
had once been the Sahara would lead them up along the Nile to a
seaport. From there, they would secure a boat, sail in, and swim
the rest once they were close enough. A night with a new moon would
give them, one might hope, enough of a cover to walk onto the
island undetected.

It was a mad plan. Nobody had said
it needed to be safe or survivable. Well, really, Josh would have
preferred that type of plan, but Maeve was running on guidance from
goodness knew where. He wondered whose programming was in charge,
the more he thought about it. Was it from whomever had her first,
or from whomever had them all? Even more disturbing in his thoughts
was wondering what his own trigger might be. Or Leif.

What would they do if Leif went
“active”, for the love of god? They were on equal physical footing
most of the time, but he doubted he could stop the big guy
mid-rampage. Worse, he was beginning to have his own little
flashback moments. These were making him doubt his grip on what had
happened back in Norway, and how they had ended up in the
container.

He wanted to ask Wallace about it,
but there had not been a good moment yet. Leif seemed determined
not to take his eyes off Wallace, and Maeve was constantly checking
their heading. He hoped they would land soon. All sense of time and
distance was completely lost out here. He hated it. Space
sucked.

۞

Grace and Jules were ignoring
Antonio for the moment. He was trying, and seemingly failing, to
ingratiate himself to Captain Nandra. It was a little
pitiful.

“Jules, if I’m being completely
honest, here…I don’t like the way this is all playing
out.”

“I know. Not a big fan of it
myself.” Julieta checked to see who was listening. The two in the
cockpit were in deep conversation of their own. “Kun will be able
to set us straight on some of this, but we haven’t been able to
tell him any of what’s happened, not for days. Mrs. Han tried, but
she couldn’t get anything out.”

“Colonel Tarkington said it was
safer that way. Less chance of interception.”

“I know. But he
thinks we’re all headed somewhere else, and has no idea we three
are about to crash…um,
land
in his midst.”

“Let’s hope it isn’t a crash.
Jeez.” Grace drew in a little closer. “Are we going to have to keep
waiting, by the way?”

“What do you mean?” Julieta was
suddenly nervous.

“For this.”
Grace moved quickly, before either of them could talk her out of
it. She was damned tired of acting like it was a criminal act.
Hell, she’d seen couples of all shapes and sizes on the Nimitz. The
station’s commander was shacked up with someone
from another planet
. They could kiss
and be happy if they damned well wanted to.

It was nearly everything she had
hoped for. To be fair, she couldn’t remember the last girl she’d
kissed, so maybe she’d built up the moment a little excessively.
She’d dreamed way too often about it, that was for sure. After what
seemed like five minutes, or maybe an hour, she sat back and tried
to catch her breath. Jules was still wearing the same nervous look
on her face. By the end, it was mixed up with a little of the same
dopiness that Grace was certain she wore on her own
face.

“I guess that answers my
question.” A small furtive smile crept out on her face. “Must have
been waiting for you to make the first move.”

“You, Jules? You’re so
gung-ho.”

“I have a confession. It’s kind of
how I kept dudes off my six back in the day.”

“I hope that doesn’t include
me.”

“You’re not a dude, Gracie, not
last I knew.”

“That ain’t no lie.” Grace sat up
a bit more cheerfully. “If we live through this shit, I want to go
dancing.”

“That would be a very good idea.”
Jules took her hand. “Let’s live through this, and get our asses
out on the floor.”

“Your old guy….”

“Master Kun.”

“Um, yeah.” She grinned. “Does he
have copious munitions, I hope?” Boom, baby, boom.

۞

Amazingly, nothing had gone
disastrously wrong yet. They’d skated through reentry, touched
down, and left the ship buried under camo netting and brush. Leif
and Wallace had argued for fifteen minutes on their next mode of
transport before Maeve pushed them both on board a public
dahabeeyah.

“Are you sure we’re actually in
Egypt? Where did the desert go?” Josh was staring out the windows
of the boat disbelievingly.

“Climate changes, man. I’m not
entirely sure what happened along here, but I think the land along
the upper Nile is still arid.”

“Wacky.” Date palms and lush
greenery stretched into the visible distance. “Any idea how long
this will take?”

“A day. And then we will require a
boat with a captain. Another few days will see us up into the
Aegean. By then, the waning cycle of the moon will be in our
favor.” Maeve had been listening in the same way as over the past
several days.

“Thanks. That was an extremely
efficient answer.” He looked over at Maeve disapprovingly. She was
still busily poring over maps and tidal charts. If Josh’s sarcasm
had penetrated, she showed no sign.

۞

The rest of the journey proceeded
in much the same manner. Three males, watching Maeve’s every move,
while she obliviously soldiered on. By the time they were on their
second night aboard a swift fishing schooner, all three were
beginning to tire of this activity. It wasn’t producing any
results; if anything, she kept withdrawing further and
further.

Leif tried to reassure himself
with the idea that he and Josh had formulated while still onboard
the Nimitz. They would get through to the end of finding Robert
Warden, and then drag Maeve back to her senses. Hopefully, she
wouldn’t pull a weapon on one of them. He heaved a weary sigh and
tried to rub away a headache that had been lingering for
days.

۞

On the third night, the ship’s
captain came to them.

“I take you only some few miles
more. Too many eyes after that.”

“Sorry?” Wallace went
ashen.

“You not say what kind of place
this is.” A scarred finger poked at their map. “My boys, they say
is heavy guards, is too much guns. We not go too close.”

“And what, you think we can swim
in five miles?”

“Nah. I give you dinghy. Is not
too valuable.” He looked at Wallace pointedly.

“How much for your rowboat, then,
Captain?” Wallace reached around for his currency, which was in
dwindling supply.

Half an hour later, they were
crowded into the smelly dinghy. Actually, dinghy was a generous
term for the thing. Their fishing boat was receding into the
distance. No promises to come back, either. This was their first
major hitch.

۞

“Just shut up and keep the weapons
dry, what do you say?” Leif was feeling a bit surly.

“All I said was that we might not
have a good way off this place…might implies a slight chance,
doesn’t it?”

“Wallace, I told you to shut yer
face.”

“Fine. We need to go silent
anyway. Wish we had about ten more people.” After that, he closed
his mouth and sulked.

At least the weather was
cooperating. Low clouds were drawing in around them, creating a
misty haze that shrouded everything in sight. Wallace inwardly
thanked satellite mapping, as they remained on course to the
island. They were on an approach that would lead them into jagged
shoals. This was, their intel said, the least guarded portion of
the island’s shoreline.

At last, their depth gauge read
that they were at three meters. Manageable. They all slipped into
the cool water, keeping their weapons high, and at the ready. Leif
and Josh looked at each other, each knowing what the other was
thinking. It had been a long time. Not long enough, and too long,
all at once.

Before long,
they could touch bottom, and began to have to weave around sharp
rocks.
The hydra’s
teeth
, Wallace thought. Ahead of them,
Maeve moved silently, uncomfortably quickly, and purposefully. She
did not look back.

As they approached the shore, they
could see a large house, perhaps eight to ten hundred meters away.
A single light shone from one of the windows; the rest were dark.
Josh frowned and pulled out the binos they’d brought. He scanned
the entire perimeter, and around the house. There was not a living
soul to be seen. He whispered as much to Wallace and Leif. Maeve
seemed to have sorted it out for herself.

She stood and began to walk,
ignoring their frantic attempts to stop her. After a hundred meters
or so, she stopped and turned. A wave outward of both arms seemed
to imply that there was, in fact, no one. She turned again and
continued to walk.

“I guess we follow. Shit, shit,
shit.” Leif scrambled to his feet and did so as quickly as
possible. Josh and Wallace cursed and brought up the rear. No shots
rang out. Nothing happened.

The house came up on them more
quickly than they’d anticipated, and suddenly they found themselves
standing outside a thick plastered wall. Leif was trying to sort
out how to determine if there were any guards on the other side of
it when Maeve scrambled up and heaved herself over.

“Will she
stop
doing that???” To
his surprise, she reappeared several dozen feet down, through a
gate.

“Unlocked.” They ran down to join
her.

“Look, Maeve, I know
you…her…whoever, that you were sure this guy was here. It’s not
looking so good right now.”

“He is here.”

“How the hell do you know
that?”

“Wallace obtained a recording of
his voice. I can hear him singing right now.” She pointed up to the
lit window. They all looked at it, straining to listen.

“I can hear him.” Wallace said
with some surprise. “What’s he singing?”

“Unknown. Irrelevant.” She slipped
off to a back door. It too was unlocked, and led into a large,
old-fashioned kitchen. A fire was nearly to embers in the hearth.
They had no idea of the layout of the building, but Maeve continued
on, as though she knew precisely where to go. They all sighed in
exasperation and followed her.

She had found a large central
staircase, and moved up it unerringly. Not for the first time, they
found themselves questioning who or what was guiding her actions.
They could only hope it wasn’t leading them into an ambush.
Probably they should have thought of that several days
ago.

The singing gradually became
clearer. They could hear a healthy baritone, as it carried a
mournful tune. Wallace tried to make out the words, but could only
hear the same dirge-like tune, at least until they were within a
few feet of an open door. The light that they had seen through the
window must have been from this room.

“I want to wear a crown
of glory
When I get home to that good land
I want to shout salvation's story
In concert with the blood-washed band”

The voice abruptly
halted its singing as they finished their approach. Maeve held up a
hand to halt them as she sneaked a quick look past the doorframe.
She then stepped into the space, pistol raised. Leif cast a look
back at the other two before shouldering his own weapon. He walked
behind Maeve. If it was Robert Warden, he had his back to them as
he smoked a cigar.

“I had nearly, very
nearly, sworn these off. The wife, you know? But she’s not here.”
He continued to face away from them. “You’re a bit later than I’d
expected, but then I realized that no sane sailor would approach
this place. And now you’re stuck here, aren’t you?”

“Bargaining with us will
not procure your safety.” Maeve kept the pistol raised and steady.
The figure across the room began to laugh.

“You think I’m all alone
out here, do you?”

“This island is devoid
of any other life forms.”

“Short sighted as ever,
Maeve.” He turned around finally, and leaned forward against his
desk. “Ah, Leif, I see you are still glued to her side. Who else
did you bring?”

Leif felt his heart drop
into his boots. He looked at Maeve. Would she react? Could what was
left of her true self see the man who stood before them? She was
not outwardly changed, not perceptibly, but he could see her
breathing alter. There was a struggle beneath the
surface.

“What’s the matter,
don’t recognize your own brother? No?” He laughed hollowly. “I
suppose I’m not surprised. I’ve been up and kicking for, what, a
decade now? No, longer than that…I keep losing track of time.
Fifteen years, that’s how long it’s been.”

Maeve
had been fighting the landscape for what seemed like days or
months. She could only manage a few steps before being knocked down
by some unseen force.
It was
like climbing a rock face upside down. She’d listened to
everything, had screamed herself hoarse at every fresh indignity
brought on by this other entity. Now, she stood against the
opposing strength, and stared off at the distant
waters.